Change to water plant plans, city suit against state occurred in 2014

Over the past few months, city officials decided to move forward with a non-conventional water plant to save the city money, and filed suit to declare a state law that conflicted with the city’s charter invalid.
In October, the City Council chose to proceed with building a non-conventional water plant instead of a traditional plant. The non-conventional plant will be the first of its kind in the area, Mayor Rodney Grogan said. “That will basically, hopefully, set the trend, and we will be the one with the pilot program for future water plants around the parish, around neighboring parishes,” Grogan said.
The cost of the non-conventional plant is estimated at about $5.5 million to $6 million, Grogan said. The traditional plant would have cost $11 million, the mayor said. The traditional plant was originally supposed to cost $8.4 million, but the cost rose mainly due to trying to hire local contractors, Grogan said. City officials were limited with few specialized contractors to construct that type of plant, he said.
A non-conventional water plant is one that uses sand to break down the sludge in the water coming out of the Lower Atchafalaya River, Grogan said. Using sand to break down the sludge is easier on the plant’s clarifiers and filters, he said. Therefore, fewer chemicals are required to get the water ready for consumption, he said.
“Just saving the public roughly $5 (million) to $6 million is a success,” Grogan said. Officials hope to break ground on the plant by June 2015, Grogan said. GSE/Providence Associates will work along with engineers from New Orleans on the project, the mayor said.
Once the new water plant is online, the city will continue to keep the old plant in use for six months while workers are trained to operate the new plant, Grogan said. The new plant will be 50 feet by 100 feet and two stories tall with an underground storage tank, he said.
With the old water plant, water takes about two hours to be ready for consumption after coming in from the Lower Atchafalaya River while water processed through the new plant will only take about 20 minutes to be ready to drink, Grogan said. The plant should be completed by December 2016, Grogan said.
Also in 2014, the City of Patterson filed a lawsuit against the State of Louisiana to request a state law that went against the city’s charter.
The result of that suit is that Grogan now has the authority to hire and fire police department personnel, Grogan said. “I can control and know the numbers that we have over there, instead of as I said before, we never knew how many officers that we had,” Grogan said. The city’s charter states that the mayor has all hiring and firing authority of police department personnel, Grogan said.
The suit was resolved Dec. 4 when 16th Judicial District Court Judge Lori Landry declared the legislative act in question invalid, Grogan said.
Regarding the police department’s budget, Grogan said the city is trying to stay under $1.8 million instead of increasing more and more each year. “The new watchful budget is giving us control,” Grogan said.
Grogan and Patterson Police Chief Patrick LaSalle are working closely together to watch the department’s budget, Grogan said.
During the year, city officials identified 18 roads of the city’s roughly 50 roads that are in dire need of upgrades, Grogan said. The city requested $1.2 million in state capital outlay for road repairs, he said. Patterson is also trying to get $900,000 in funding from the parish, Grogan said.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Willow Street sewer rehab projects were completed in 2014, Grogan said. The city is working to put a sewer system in at Veterans Boulevard and Progresso Road for development of at least 40 homes, Grogan said. City officials will revisit the budget in February 2015 to possibly amend some items in it, he said.
After receiving state funding to assess the city’s downtown area, city officials decided to move forward with upgrading Morey Park along the Lower Atchafalaya River to increase the number of visitors downtown, Grogan said. The city formed a cultural district about two years ago, he said.
The project will be similar to the Plaquemine area, “where citizens will be able to go in the back of the park and basically stand on the wharf and take in the beauty of the Lower Atchafalaya,” Grogan said.
Newly-elected Councilman Travis Darnell, who teaches at Patterson Junior High School, is an advocate for education in the city, Grogan said. Darnell will be thoroughly involved with Patterson Community Center, which provides tutoring for about 50 students, he said.
The St. Mary Council on Aging senior citizen’s program, which is partnering with the city, will use parts of the old Patterson Junior High School once the new school is completed, Grogan said.
Five new businesses including a drive-thru Pizza Hut, a drive-thru Subway, Advance Automotive, Dunkin’ Donuts and one more business will be coming to the strip mall on Catherine Street, Grogan said.
In November, Grogan was elected to a second term as mayor. “It took four years … for people to actually buy in. Change is hard especially for the City of Patterson,” Grogan said. In the past, only a certain group of people determined what came to the city, Grogan said. “Now, my thing is to get everybody involved … so that at the end of everything we can say what we’ve done.”
In 2014, the city concentrated on Catherine Street for economic development. Going forward, the city will focus on the downtown area, Grogan said. “I have someone that’s speaking of taking the old arcade, the movie building, and turning it into an event center,” Grogan said. “By doing that, we will have people renting out that building for wedding receptions and so forth.”
The redevelopment will breathe life back into the downtown area, Grogan said. State officials are finishing surveying U.S. 90 to prepare to install J-turns in order to help decrease traffic accidents and ease crossings for residents south of the railroad tracks, he said.
City Clerk Pam Washington will retire Jan. 31, 2015, after 44 years with the city, but will return as a part-time employee, he said.